£310

Jibboom

Jibboom

Zang!
Dec 26, 2006
14
0
1
Wales
Hey!
First off, merry christmas to everyone here! Anyways, I've managed to gather £310 to get me started recording, which I know isn't much. So, I don't know what to get apart from a SM-57, and myabe some effects; I have no experience in the recoring world so stay with me if this sounds shitty to your ears. . .

Option 1:

SM-57 - Behringer FCA-202 - Yamaha MG Mixer

Option 2:

SM-57 - Digidesign M-Box Mini/M-Box 2

Option 3 :

Krank Distortus Maximus - SM-57 - Yamaha MG Mixer

I really don't know, and another option is the RE-AMP. Any info or suggetions on which brands to look out for is greatly appreciated, and you can push my quoted price a little, itmay rise in the following weeks.

Thanks!
Jib
 
Well I'd suggest the main things you need to think about are

Getting sound into your computer
Getting sound out of your computer

So aside from your 57, all you really need to get started is an audio interface (soundcard) and some monitors.
The quality of your mixing is probably more dependant on your monitors than anything else, particularly at this level, so it'd be worth throwing as much as you can afford at these - I'll have to let the other guys here fill you in on what to look for in your price range, I only know stuff that's a bit more expensive.
For your interface, I assume you only want 1 or 2 inputs and 2 outputs, but make sure you get something with a serviceable mic preamp in (unless you want to buy one seperately). Something like the behringer you mentioned would work fine, or an m-audio audiophile. Then for a preamp you could use an m-audio audiobuddy maybe, or presonus tubepre.

That's just the obvious stuff that springs to mind, I'm sure the rest know some other bargains I've missed - good luck, and welcome!
 
WeeFace said:
Well I'd suggest the main things you need to think about are

Getting sound into your computer
Getting sound out of your computer

So aside from your 57, all you really need to get started is an audio interface (soundcard) and some monitors.
The quality of your mixing is probably more dependant on your monitors than anything else, particularly at this level, so it'd be worth throwing as much as you can afford at these - I'll have to let the other guys here fill you in on what to look for in your price range, I only know stuff that's a bit more expensive.
For your interface, I assume you only want 1 or 2 inputs and 2 outputs, but make sure you get something with a serviceable mic preamp in (unless you want to buy one seperately). Something like the behringer you mentioned would work fine, or an m-audio audiophile. Then for a preamp you could use an m-audio audiobuddy maybe, or presonus tubepre.

That's just the obvious stuff that springs to mind, I'm sure the rest know some other bargains I've missed - good luck, and welcome!
Click to expand...

Thanks Weeface! I have some old Wharfdale speakers which where top quality in their day, but old now, so maybe I need to upgrade those. Do I need a pre-amp? What advantages will it give me? I always thought it was:

Amp > Mic > Mixer > Soundcard > PC > Recording Software​
 
I'd suggest you getting a presonus Firebox. It has 2 preamps and it works through the firewire port. It has good preamps. (=)It makes the audio ready to go through an A/D converter. The firebox has all-in-one so to speak. so to get stuff recorded like this you'll need:

amp > mic > firebox > PC/Mac > recording software > soundcard(firebox) > Monitors

You don't need a mixer.

I'd suggest you investing some good monitors, because you don't know what the fuck you're recording if you don't hear it properly. If you wanna go cheap, check out the behringer truth's. They're REALLY REALLY good. I have Tannoy Reveals, the old models.

hope this helps!
 
On this budget, the 1010lt is a very good card for the price :) for a 2nd hand price of £100, new for £150. This could give scope for a sm57 taking you to £170, get all your cables sorted maybe up to 200 quid and then £100 left for some other gear.

The card's got a mixer on board so you can play a little in there. I actually use a stereo for monitors as well lol, one of those video games stereos for about £150 quid with the rca phono plug inputs on the front.

All you do is put the pci card in the pc, and plug your mic cable into it and start recording. I think this will do your job excellently. I'm not much cop at mixing yet, but here's a short sample i've done that will show you what kind of quality you can get i guess if you're wanting to see results.

http://www.omissiononline.com/testingtesting1232.mp3
(drums are from the mixmeister Black Neon Bobby!)

MDOD1010LT.jpg
 
kev said:
On this budget, the 1010lt is a very good card for the price :) for a 2nd hand price of £100, new for £150. This could give scope for a sm57 taking you to £170, get all your cables sorted maybe up to 200 quid and then £100 left for some other gear.

The card's got a mixer on board so you can play a little in there. I actually use a stereo for monitors as well lol, one of those video games stereos for about £150 quid with the rca phono plug inputs on the front.

All you do is put the pci card in the pc, and plug your mic cable into it and start recording. I think this will do your job excellently. I'm not much cop at mixing yet, but here's a short sample i've done that will show you what kind of quality you can get i guess if you're wanting to see results.

http://www.omissiononline.com/testingtesting1232.mp3
(drums are from the mixmeister Black Neon Bobby!)

MDOD1010LT.jpg
Click to expand...

:OMG: Thanks Man! That sounds awesome to me ( Is it, or is it my lack of know how ). This is going to be a complete and utter bastard. My old PC, which is decent at everything else, is a low-profile PC, and therefore I can't get any cards at all without spending loads and sourcing, that's why I mentioned the Behringer and Digidesigns, because they are external; sorry, maybe I should have mentioned that before, you guys need more info on what gear I've got at the moment?
 
Whether or not you can use your wharfedales really depends on what they are...

The thing is, most consumer and hifi speakers are designed to flatter sound, to make anything sound as good as possible through them. Whereas monitors you want to give you a true picture of the recording, so you can hear the flaws and fix them. After all, you can only mix something as well as you can hear it :)

The probable reason why you thought you needed a mixer, is that mixers have mic preamps in them, so have traditionally been used for recording many things at once. But since you only need one mic input, there's no point in buying a whole load more!
 
Right thanks guys, this is helping loads and by far the best forum I've been on; here goes:

Acer Veriton 3500 ( 2.0ghz )
Guitarport
Line 6 Spider 2x12"
ZW Les Paul
Les Paul Studio
Collins Acoustic
Peavey Wolfgang
Various Irrelevent Effects
JVC Stereo amplifier ( 20 + years old ) with two Wharfdale speakers rigged up to Guitarport so they produce sound from my PC.

I'm planning on recording bass and drums, does this mean I still need a mixer? So far on the definate list is a SM-57, and some new monitors. Oh, do I need a subwoofer?
 
get the mbox and use wharfedale for now. Shit when i started i used a cheap k-mart radio to monitor with.

Id look for regular mbox used on ebay not mbox2. Get that to get you started and upgrade later as needed. Like when you can afford get monitors or whatever get them but you don't need to start making music. But i actually use wharfdales myself but there actually studio monitors and a hell of a deal if your looking to buy some cheap someday!!

Wharfdale Diamond 8.2 active ..
 
Well, I have the money to spend here so I will, seeing I'm interested In getting up and running with full on recording and not Audacity. :lol:
 
Machinated said:
If you want to use any microphones then yes. Some interfaces come with preamps built in, some don't. You also want to bear in mind the quality of the preamps involved.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll look into it. I'll post back here when I get my first stuff. :)
 
But looking at your gear, you'll probably get better sound at this level DIing from your spider or guitarport, since you won't have a good mic'ing environment anyway, and only mediocre preamps. Worth thinking about anyway, you could maybe spend that money on better monitors, interface, or a shitload of beer instead :)
 
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